28 June 2004 -- A study says police brutality is so widespread in Russia that 87 percent of medical emergency doctors have treated victims of such violence.

The study was conducted by the respected research center of Yury Levada last month, polling 619 emergency room personnel in 42 Russian cities.

Levada said in Moscow that the study proves that law enforcement violence, especially by the police, is "widespread and systematic."

Representatives of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) who attended the report's release called on NGOs to get involved in the issue since authorities "close their eyes" on the phenomenon, Levada said.

Igor Kalyapin, head of Nizhni Novogorod-based Committee Against Torture, said that Russia currently has no judiciary system of control over police violence.